I am a woman. I love being a woman and I would like to be treated and appreciated as a woman. I may be independent, but for crying out loud what happened to the generation of men that made a woman feel like one? I may have my own house and car, but it really disgusts me when a man comes up to me and asks me to buy him lunch, phone credit or a new shirt! It is especially annoying when a man flashes me over and over again expecting me to call him back and all that he asks is that “So.. can I come to your place for tea?” Men, style up please! This is reason some of us ‘independent women’ refuse to be engaged in any form of relationship or marriage.
Charity Kivuli gives an interesting account on a date gone bad. Read the rest here.
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19:50
Taxi Please?
» Kenya Imagine -
The dynamics of "love"
» Kenya Imagine Love is everywhere: the airwaves (radio & TV music), cyberspace, magazines, books, and one-on-one encounters. It is simply everywhere. I started hearing the 'love' phrase when I was an adolescent.
Richard Mbuthia on the meaning and worth of true romantic love . Read the rest here. -
Beauty is skin deep
» Kenya Imagine Appearance is a very large determining factor when choosing a mate.But how effective is it in choosing the right mate. Many of us discover that we often lose out when we use that as a criteria. I have met a man. I had just come out of a bad relationship.
Wambani writes on relationships and physical appearance, to the rest of the world. Read the rest here. -
Mother’s Day: Reminiscences of the women who raised me
» Kenya Imagine From the time I relocated to the West, I have observed both Mother's Day and Father's Day faithfully.Surprisingly, I caught on pretty fast, considering the fact that the days are largely alien to Kenya and its people.
My rationalization for the quick assimilation has been that the loneliness and realization that all the things my parents talked endlessly about as I half listened live with me. Perhaps I should have listened better but this sentimentalism should not, however, be read into as regret of my rebellious adolescent years. I still cherish them, for they largely contributed to who I am today.
Lindiwe Ngazina gives tribute to the women in her life. Read the rest here.
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18:52 Odds and Ends
» Afromusing Whis brought up an important issue on the last post - CFLs in Uganda. Namely that CFLs contain mercury, a heavy metal that is quite toxic and dangerous if not disposed of properly. A common concern is mercury in fish which results in the advisory for pregnant women to avoid eating fish. I decided to buy a CFL since my desk lamp light blinked out and in the process try to answer Whis’ question about disposal. Home Depot, $5 dollars for 1 40watt bulb and i was set.
CFL front
CFL back
Desk lamp with CFL
And voila! Light!
What i was able to find on the package no less, is that in North America, lamprecycle.org is a great resource, it has the state and EPA regulations for disposal of spent lamps. It also points to Earth911 where you can enter your zip code and it gives you the location of your local recycling center.
As for Uganda: I am afraid Whis i do not know…couldnt find a website for now, the other ministries appear to have a site but not the Energy ministry. Info from anyone there on the ground is greatly appreciated.
Daud in Kenya also pointed to the launch of PANARECC
Panerecc Launched at the Grand Regency on Thursday 26th April 2007
The Parliamentary Network on Renewable Energy and Climate Change (PANERECC) is a proposed Parliamentary network to promote renewable energy and climate change policy and particularly the synergy between New and Renewable Energy (NRE) as a tool for combating climate change
As of this posting I am getting a 401 error on their site, so check it again later.
Other Stuff
Tech/Internet - Its a bad URL world out there i.e malicious code can found on the URLs of sites …so get Finjan secure browsing addon for firefox. (Yes i know that attempt at channeling 3-6 mafia was lame oh i will say its maxi priest “Uuu baby its a wild world ” Bugger, that aint it either, i am leaving it in the post despite its hobbliness.)
Econ -2 links to articles by James Shikwati, he is one of the speakers in the upcoming TED Global. Link 1 on harmonisation of tax laws in the EAC with the somewhat hilarious question “Will the East African Federation increase the size of matoke on our plates?” Link 2 - “Urbanizing Kenya to fight poverty”. Speaking of urbanization and poverty, Atanu Dey has excellent posts on this very issue.Music and TV (Diaspora US): VH1 soul has a cool program One Planet One soul, airs on sundays. Soul from Africa and aroung the world. Likes of Les Nubians, Somi etc. This was also mentioned over at Annansi Chronicles, a very cool blogger and designer, check out the blog here and the cool afrocentric tshirts here. If you arent subscribed to Benn Loxo yet and you are a world music fan…what you waiting for?! Gems on that site i tell you.
Annoyances: SMSs asking you to not buy gas/petrol on May 15th. Here is the snopes entry debunking that urban legend.
Last but not least, thanks for reading this far… and Happy Mothers day to all moms, especially our fellow bloggers who are new moms, KP, Mrembo and Medusa.
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16:34
Wahlhelfer, part 2
» Kikuyumoja's realm There was an article in the local newspaper the other day where the State of Bremen asked its readers to volunteer for today’s election day. I quickly downloaded the application form from the inet and applied for that position as I always wanted to do that kind of work.
Such a one-day job actually includes arriving at the polling station as early as 7.30 am and supporting the election official until all votes are registered, which means you’re home at about 9 pm.
Despite of being interested in that kind of work, I also wanted to see WHO actually lives in this area which had been my interim home during 1983-1990 - and since I had just returned to a familiar place for the first time in my life, a place I am sometimes ready to accept as my “base station”, I thought it would be great to see some familiar faces from the past.
Besides, there’s EUR 30,- incentive at the end of the day, and in my Kenyanesque brainstructures, this equals to around Kshs. 2700/= for a day of just sitting on a desk and making sure that ppl drop their votes. Dude, could I ask for more? Simple!
So what’s the difference?
Besides of different procedures (voters get their electoral card sent through normal snail mail and have to deliver either this card or their ID card in order to vote), one thing remains as an amusing fact.
Well, can u see that long bench in the middle of the floor? We used it to divide the room into two areas for each electoral district, but ppl here - for some peculiar reason - apparently saw this as a challenge to change lines a.k.a. districts and consequently line up for another district. They just jumped over the bench as if they were back in school (the building is a primary school).
==> Whereas you’d probably see an askari with a rungu in Kenya, making sure that ppl keep order, there was no order here, just unbelievably “smart” people (~ 5% of them having a PhD) who apparently thought to be smarter than the rest by jumping
over the benchthe line. Idiots.Needles to mention that the majority of the electorate in this district voted for a very conservative party. I guess this goes to show the actual meaning of permanent head damages (phd). ^^
The problem with many ppl is their inability to think in juristic terms - putting your vote on a piece of paper isn’t voting but instead dropping that vote into a sealed box and getting your name registered as having voted. The consequence of this misunderstanding is that they put every emphasis on marking their cross on that piece of paper, but when it comes to the actual process of registering your vote, many voters today just wondered about this extra hassle.
And yes, it was a nice experience today and I would do it again any other day. It’s a good feeling to be living in a society where ppl actually care about each other, and despite of these somewhat peculiar relicts of German history, I appreciate being part of the system, even if its just for one day.
Of course I just had to close the day with Bremen’s best product: Beck’s Gold! :-)
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blau-weißer Flummi gesucht
» Kikuyumoja's realm 
Heute in meiner alten Grundschule entdeckt. :-)
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9:53
Bits and bobs
» Mentalacrobatics A Kikuyu, a Luhya and a Persian are standing outside Nakumatt Prestige at 8pm. Which one is selling popcorn, which one is eating popcorn, which one is watching?
I am an information junkie. I used to be one of those people with a million different email subscriptions flying into my email inbox each day. News lists, global security information lists, sports, technology, you name it I had it. One day last year I revolted and unsubscribed to all of them except two. Why? First of all it was information overload! Secondly the growth and wide availability of RSS feeds and other ways to get information means I no longer need to fill my email inbox to get the information I want. Now I am signed up to only two daily email lists on my main email account and both are vital reading and if you don’t have them you should get them!
One is The Global Voices daily digest (blogs) written by David Sasaki and his bunch of merry men and women. The other is The Fiver (football) written by a bunch of nutters in Fiver Towers. (OK I admit I do have one or two other weekly email subscriptions that such a pillar of society such as myself has no business reading, step forward Holy Moly!) What lists out there are worth a look.
So which RSS Feeds am I reading or do I think are worth reading, or do I feel I should be reading? All is revealed on the MentalGator. Yeah I noticed some of you noticing my site pulling your feeds and was bound to oust me before long so I might as well publicise it. It is quite small, I will try to keep it under 30 feeds, unlike the monster that is the KENYAUNLIMITED AGGREGATOR! It is rough around the edges, needs a serious css over haul and some options need changing but it will do for now. If this all works out then, I’ll change the software that powers the KenyaUnlimited aggregator to this one.
It’s been a while since I shook with laughter while reading a blog post but Greg Black got me laughing and holding my head at the same time while I was reading this.
The guys at Very Sawa Technology Studios are on to something with the launch of Jahazi. When you have White African, Kobia, JKE, and the Skunkworks crew all ooohing and ahhhing over one of your products its time to start thinking about an IPO.
And finally
KBW exists. And KBW exists primarily because its members want it to exist and contribute to help it exist in various ways, not because Mentalacrobatics started it or the KBW Admin Team helps sustain it, although those are factors as well. If KBW members do not want KBW to exist it will not. It really is a simple as that. That is why, at the end of the day, my opinion on each and every attack on KBW is not that important and why I will not comment on each and every blog post that mentions KBW negatively.
If KBW loses credibility then bloggers will simply leave KBW and no others will join. In the same way, if the Admin Team can not be trusted then KBW members will simply stop conferring with, contributing to and indeed trusting that Admin Team.
I can tell you honestly that when I fire up Thunderbird each morning the KBW admin email address is the most active of all the email addresses and of those messages new member registration and new members requesting assistance take up a healthy number. Do not take my word for it, look for yourself.
KBW does have its share of yahoos. What is healthy is that we all have different opinions on what constitutes a yahoo, and believe me I have my opinion as well. I can take the personal attacks, they stopped bothering me a long time. (When cartoons email your parents to inform them that their son is confusing the youth of Kenya on behalf of StateHouse and should be arrested – you learn to laugh at life – otherwise you can go mad).
This does raise interesting questions on the issue of ownership of the Kenyan blogosphere. Methinks I have just found the right topic for my next podcast.
I was talking last night with another veteran of Kenyan online communities and we were reflecting about the back-in-the-day days. If it is beef and “online war” you are after let me tell you right now KBW is the wrong place to look. We are but a bunch of amateurs.
In 1997 as an innocent 1st year undergrad I joined an online community called KenyaOnline. Walalala. VITA! This was just before the 1997 general election and I tell you MPs, aspiring MPs, their cronies, even MINISTERS (apparently writing anonymously – remind you of anything) were all throwing, what the KOL community called, online rungus at each other. I must admit I found it brilliant to start of with.
By the time 2002 had come along and those same wazee, wabunge and wamweshimwas were still throwing insults at each other it had become tiring. However things mellow out and KenyaOnline is still going strong in its current incarnation on yahoo groups.
Any of you who were around for the drama on mlevi.com, rcbown.com – remember when rcbowen was THE Kenyan page on the internet – if you weren’t in his guest book then you basically didn’t exist online – and even at the height of drama on mashada.com then you know that KBW is a relatively stable place and actually quite quiet in comparison.
There many who like to cultivate a them and us mentality about this whole online thing. The KBW Admin Team is always accessible, if you have any concerns then you know where to find us.
With our numbers growing and our membership diversifying, with the power or blogs increasing and recognition of bloggers growing day by day I am confident, as I always have been from that day 1 when I was the ONLY member of KBW, that this project that we are all involved in, is here to stay.
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The Miracle of Flight
» Mentalacrobatics To truly appreciate the miracle of flight you need to fly a distance that you travel regularly by other means. Flying to the United Kingdom or the United States from Kenya, well, that’s the only way to get there so we can be excused in getting complacent! But flying from Nairobi to Kisumu, now that is an eye opening experience.
I have ranted before about driving to western Kenya. The roads are terrible, car breaking, and dangerous to drive on and that’s just the tarmac. The parts that are not tarmaced are not just car breaking but body breaking too. After that 8 hour drive you step out of the car and your spine feels like it is going to snap. (Spare a thought for the commercial vehicle and public transport drivers who do that route several times a week some even twice a day.)
And then there is flying. You get into your seat, you take off, and half an hour later you land in Kisumu! It still boggles my mind to this day at how simple and easy that trip is compared to the alternatives! Once when we called my brother who had dropped us at JKIA to tell them him we had landed in Kisumu safely we found that even had not even reached the Nyayo Stadium round about!
As soon as the plane touched down in Kisumu on Thursday I heard something I have not heard in a plane since the late 1980s. Applause. The whole cabin broke out in applause. KQ507 has re-awoken the appreciation, constantly taken for granted, for a safe trip.
A big thank you to everyone who has left a tribute, linked to, and help spread the word about the KQ507 tribute site. A big thank you to Fareed, Vincent and all guys and gals at the Capital FM Breakfast Crew for responding. Thanks to Ndesanjo and Global Voices for spreading the word. An extra big thank you to the family members and friends of the passengers and the crew who have left tributes, man, they are moving.
One thing this tragedy has brought home to me is just how connected we all are. I have had emails from Nigerian, Ethiopian, American, British and Indian friends all telling me how they have been personally affected by the flight. We live in a global village.
As a kid it really used to irritate me that the call signal for Kenya Airways was KQ and not KA as Dragon Air had got to it first. I used to feel we were dissed being sent all the way down to KQ what happened to KB KC KD etc I would ask. But now in my old age, KQ has a regal almost mystical tone to it. Kaaaay Kyooou. Nice!
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4:58
:::I AM PROUDLY AFRICAN :::
» RIBA CAPITAL 
I have a dream, that rogue journalism will one day seize and JUSTICE shall be projected on our screens.
I have a dream, that Western media (read CNN) will call US by name and not by race.
I have a dream, that Africans will rise and that ONE we will become.
I have a dream, that BLACK and WHITE are just colours and not a reflection of our ability.
I have a dream, that the families mourning their lost ones will HEAL.
I have a dream, that Kenya Airways will remain the PRIDE of Africa.
Yes, I have a dream, that Martin Luther will FOREVER be emblazoned in our hearts.
This article was inspired by the screenshot below on CNN’s coverage of our BELOVED ones lost in the KQ plane crash. Thanks tHiNkEr’S rOoM for your post.
Here I quote CNN's coverage:
The people on board included one American, five Brits, one Swiss, one Swede, six Chinese, and 15 Indians. The remainder were Africans, including at least 35 from Cameroon and at least nine from Kenya, according to airline figures.
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3:35
Tagged - KQ edition
» bankelele Got tagged by Mwari which has happened before and I have given some answers.
I am still pre-occupied by the Kenya Airways plane crash so i have decided to find some aviation related answers for the tag. I have been a long time shareholder of the airline till this January. When I started actively buying shares, I bought several KQ at 11 and 12 shillings and later sold them at 24/= . I though they were undervalued at 11,was happy when they doubled and I sold, but I doubt if anyone could have foreseen the bull market that sent KQ shares on to 140 shillings in 2006 (see share regrets).
1. First thing is how much I love flying. As I said when previously tagged, put me on a plane anytime.
Lunch date I'd accept any day
2. My first Kenya Airways (KQ) flight I recall was about a week after the 1982 coup attempt. Family decided that a holiday was in order and so we took a KQ flight to Mombasa. It was a Fokker Friendship (F27) aircraft and in those days the route included a stop over in Malindi, before a short hop down the coastline, passing over hotels and so many tempting swimming pools on the way to Mombasa.
3. Next flight I recall was maybe in 1985 or 1986 – another Mombasa trip. It was supposed to depart Nairobi around mid-day, but the flight was delayed for mechanical, or some other reason (KQ was known to have such flight delays in those days). So we were delayed for about 5 hours till the next available aircraft was ready and wow it was a (then) brand new Airbus 310. I was so impressed, the plane was huge and quiet and I sat over the wing and marveled at the flap arrangements. (On another previous flight on an older 707, I had been shocked to see some greasy green sponge rags inside the engines as the plane braked on landing). Anyway, at the end of the A310 flight i was till in awe that I got to the terminal and realized that I still had my plastic soda cup (with the KQ logo on it) - which young me tried to give back to some of the airport people.
4. I once worked as an airport security guard/Marshall - you know checking for bombs, guns etc. It was a summer job during university and before 9/11, airport security was something not taken seriously - hijackings were a non-issue and no one (except some evil genius) could have foreseen endings to routine flights as we saw that day.
Anyway, airlines never took security seriously and outsourced it to the cheapest company possible - as you could see by the way the guards were treated. Almost any warm body who could pass a drug test got the job and on the first day, you got a uniform and were put straight on the job in training (but on 'probation' for a week - until your drug test results came through) . It was the lowest paying job in the airport (even less than McDonald's workers), but for for someone who loved being around planes, it was a great opportunity.
5. I am mystified by the so-called carbon credits, air miles, and plant trees for carbon emissions etc. movements. At the airport I worked at, about 90 – 95%% of the flights at the airport were small (737 type) aircraft flying local routes – as is probably the case at most European and American airports. So out of the hundreds of flights coming into a European airport on any given day, can even more than 1% of them be from Africa? So how do our vegetables and flowers get blamed / and taxed for harming the environment?
6. The worst flight I ever took was in a (4-seat) small plane from the coast to Nairobi (Wilson airport). We flew through a thunderstorm and the plane was tossed about like you would not believe – I thought I'd get sick and wished the flight would be over, or even turn round back to the coast. Also in the same way you're told to never go to a restaurant kitchen, sitting with a pilot of a small plane can scare anyone new to flying as you see the pure mechanics of flight. (The co-pilot seat was empty and observing the dials, rudder pedals and joystick move around was scary to as you wondered how this could be happening a few thousand feet up in the air) Such turbulence. is something I have never experienced on bigger planes such as a 737. There are dozens of flights in the air as you read this navigating through rain or snow storms or other bad weather safely. If an airport is unsafe (runway flooded or snowed), it is shut down and flights are forbidden to take off or land. But if it's open to fly, flights go on as usual. Pilots are trained for this and maybe the KQ investigation will prove me right that flying through a thunderstorm - while being uncomfortable for passengers, is not a dangerous activity.
7. Oh and the corporate blog opportunity i sought last year was with Kenya Airways. My pitch was not successful, but I must commend the way they have handled the aftermath of the accident so far. They are dealing with many anguished families, harassed airport official, bureaucrats, political busy bodies, snake oil salesmen(asking if the West African route is jinxed), safety engineers, shareholders, people skeptical of flying in Africa, and the flying public and each group requires a carefully tailored message.
That's the end of the tag, as most of the people I’d want to tag have already answered, All I ask is that they keep flying and enjoy the ride. -
Jobs & opportunities May 13
» bankelele Fund accountants at Alexander Forbes financial services (EA) . Apply to actuaries@aforbes.co.ke by 18/5
DCDM advisor services seeking high caliber individuals to work in audit, business advisory and corporate financial services. Apply to admin@dcdmkenya.com by 18/5
Apply online for dealer (treasury) at Family bank by 15/5
Housing finance relationship manager relationship officer, marketing officer. Apply to human.resources@housing.co.ke by 18/5
Program manager at the Institute of directors (Kenya) . Apply to info@iodkenya.co.ke by 23/5
Kenya Parliament: Seeking a director of information & research services (PSC 14) in charge of hansard, research, ICT, public relation & budget office. Apply by 31/5 to the secretary, parliamentary service commission 41842-00100 Nairobi
KPMG: Acknowledging Kenyan talent earlier this year was Haliburton, and this month it’s KPMG UAE that is seeking to Kenyan audit and financial advisory professionals to work in Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah. Apply to ae-recruit@kpmg.com
Nation media group is seeking website designer feature writers and other positions.
Various at Safaricom including Forecasting Controller, Management Accountant - Product Analyst, Head of Retail, Head of Customer Management, Materials Inspection Officer – BSS & MW, Senior CRM System Developer, Business Intelligence Developer. Also Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Supply and Administration Officer for which you apply through PricewaterhouseCoopers at ess.ke@ke.pwc.com
business writing
Business plan opportunities found at Kenyan Pundit and PSD blog
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